Jump Start # 596

Nehemiah 13:23-25 “In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.”

We continue our look at the end of Nehemiah and the spiritual reforms that Nehemiah tried to lead the people in. He had rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. Now, he is attempting to rebuild a faith and a dedicated service to God. The first was much easier than the latter.

There are several things that Nehemiah saw. He saw the ruins of the city. He saw that Tobiah, the enemy had moved into the temple. Now, from our verse today, Nehemiah saw that the Jews had married foreign women. This was wrong. The law was specific about this. The following verse brings up Solomon as an example of what happens. Solomon married many foreign women. They caused “even him to sin.” Solomon was smart. If it messed him up, it would certainly mess everyone else up.

Nehemiah is a man of action. He doesn’t wait for someone else to do something. The next generation couldn’t even speak the language of the native Hebrews. They were losing a generation. The language first, the faith and religion follows. Similar to the book of Judges, right before their eyes, a generation was slipping away from God. The cause? Marrying outside the nation. Nehemiah was furious.  He hit some of them. He pulled their hair and cursed them. I expect that got their attention. I don’t recommend that today. Certainly the police would be called and someone would go to jail. Earlier, Nehemiah made the leaders sign an oath to walk with God. Here, he makes the people swear or promise to end the mixed marriages between the nations. In making them promise, Nehemiah was keeping them with God. In turn, the next generation might have a hope of pleasing God.

Many are upset about the massive debt that our country is handing to the next generation. That ought to concern us. A greater concern is the spiritual well being of our children. Peter said, “If any man speaks, let him speak the oracles of God.” Can our kids speak accurately about God and His word? That is something that won’t just happen by itself. Action must be taken and the proper steps followed if we want our kids to speak the way God does. That will call for us to spend some time engaging in spiritual activity with our kids. That will necessitate our kids being different than other kids. The end result will be a generation that we can hand the church over to, fill leadership roles and teach from our pulpits. If they can’t speak the language of God, the Bible, then disaster will happen. Things will change, and not for the better. Out will go the old and in will come the new and the different. The old time religion will be replaced with what’s happening now theology. Now, I’m not one for old, stale, dry and dull faith or services. Not at all. But neither am I for throwing out what the Bible teaches and shows by example.

Why is it that the next generation could not speak the language of the Jews? Their parents did not teach them. They were taught the language of Ashdod. They knew other things. They simply didn’t know the things of God. Have you ever seen on TV game shows when a question about the Bible comes up, how completely ignorant folks are? It’s shameful. They’ll know the answer to Russian poets who lived two hundred years ago, but they know nothing of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Not only do most not know anything, what’s worse, they don’t care to know. They’d rather watch TV and find out who kissed who in Hollywood this week.

Nehemiah smacked his people because of their poor choices. They married wrong. They raised their kids wrong. They were thinking wrong. There is no way the walls of their faith could be rebuilt with all those wrong choices. Makes a person wonder doesn’t? Are we more interested that our kids marry money, or someone who is good looking, or someone who makes them laugh more than someone who will help them get to Heaven? Nehemiah understood. I hope we do as well.

Choices—learning to make the right ones…learning to make spiritual ones—that is what is behind all of this. One generation fumbled. The next generation was worse. If things didn’t change, the generation following, would be even more worse.

Marriages can strengthen our faith and our commitment to Christ or they can pull us away. Solomon knew. The end of his life was spent building idols to please his wives. Shame on him. He should have tossed them out. Give them a choice—God or hit the road! He didn’t do that. He pleased them. I wonder how many have quit attending services to please a mate that had zero interest in the Lord. I wonder how many felt pressured at first, but then learned to like it, and then became committed to being not committed to the Lord.

You know where you see this the most? Funerals. I’ve seen it a lot lately. Mom or dad dies. They were faithful to the Lord. Attended all the time. Taught classes. Helped where they could. For some reason, their kids did not know the language of the Lord. They grew up and became committed to being non committed. So here they all are at the funeral. Mom or dad is in the casket. The preacher is called to read the Bible and say some comforting words. The kids are there but the words don’t comfort. They don’t understand the concepts. They believe that everyone is going to Heaven because we’re pretty good people. As soon as the funeral is over, off they go to their non committed ways and life. Never again to darken the church building. Never again to hear the Bible preached. Never again to give a thought to the eternal. Sad. It makes me want to pull hair—mostly my own!

It starts with each of our families. Teach. Show. Love. Share. Explain. Let them see commitment. Let them see sacrifices in your life. Let them see you serve others. Let them see Jesus. The worst thing that can happen is to raise a bunch of faithless kids who grow to be selfish and indifferent to God and His ways.

Let me add, some parents have done just what I said above. They did everything right. They did it to the best of their abilities. Their kids grew to make poor choices. Parents fault? No. Heap guilt upon them? No. Pull their hair? No. People have the right to make dumb choices and they do it every day. Satan tempts, and people listen. Some go off to the far country and never come back. Some like eating with pigs. Some want nothing to do with the way their were raised and especially the faith and religion of their parents. They don’t replace faith, they simply drop it. They live without it.

The sense I get from our passage is not that the parents tried, they didn’t. They didn’t follow the law in marrying. They didn’t follow the law in raising up their children. They didn’t, so their kids don’t. That’s what made Nehemiah furious.

We can do better. Let’s get about it.

Roger